Multisports: Kiwi ironman clocks top NZ time

Endurance athlete Richard Ussher clocked the quickest ironman time by any New Zealander when he was third at the Quelle Challenge Roth race in Germany yesterday.

The former adventure racing world champion and three-time Coast to Coast winner finished strongly on the marathon distance run to clock a time of 8h 2m 15s. It was more than 6m quicker than the previous best New Zealand time, registered by Cameron Brown at the 2008 Frankfurt Ironman.

On a day of contrasting fortunes for New Zealand, Gina Ferguson had to pull out after the women's race bike leg.

"One race I'd like to forget," the Ironman NZ champion wrote online.

"Collapsed after bike section. Was very scary, could not talk, breathe or feel anything. Must be dehydration."

By contrast, Ussher was strong on the run and German two-time world champion Normann Stadler was one of those he passed in the closing stages.

The race was won by Germany's Michael Gohner in 7h 55m 53s, with Australian Pete Jacobs second, more than 6m behind.

World champion Chrissie Wellington of Britain knocked nearly 14m off the women's world record with a time of 8h 31m 29s.

- NZPA